£1bn to be spent on Scots roads in 2017-18

Investment in Scotland’s motorways and trunk roads will rise about 18% to just under £1 billion in 2017-18, taking projects currently under construction to almost £6 billion, according to the Scottish Government.

The £500 million M8 M73 M74 Motorway Improvements Project — which will cut 20 minutes off journeys along the A8/M8 Edinburgh-Glasgow corridor and cut 15 minutes off journeys through Raith Interchange on the M74 — is nearing completion.

More than 100,000 vehicles use each of the main project roads on a daily basis.

The consortium responsible for designing, financing and constructing the M8 M73 M74 project as well as operating and maintaining the roads for 30 years following completion is the Scottish Roads Partnership (SRP).

SRP is a consortium made up of Ferrovial Agroman and Lagan Construction Group who will oversee construction, Cintra and Amey who will manage and maintain the road network, and Meridiam and Uberior who are responsible for the required investment.

“We will now inject a further £167 million of spending to accelerate planned projects and maintain Scotland’s trunk roads.

“Our total investment in our motorways and trunk roads has risen from £830 million in 2016-17 to £997 million in 2017-18, an increase of 17.9%.

“As well as supporting new investment this shows we are committed to ensuring that the trunk road network remains safe, efficient and resilient, allowing effective movement of people, goods and services around, as well as to and from, Scotland.”

Graeme Reid, project sponsor for the M8 M73 M74 Motorways Improvements Project, said: “The New Year will bring further traffic management challenges as works continue to tie the new roads into to the existing infrastructure and we thank road users for their continued patience.

“We are working closely with our contractor to complete the final phases of construction as quickly as possible and look forward to opening the new roads to traffic in Spring 2017.”